The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023 qualifying session on April 28 produced a thriller as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified on the pole, ahead of the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Although the Dutchman failed to qualify for the pole, he seemed extremely happy for the Monegasque who beat him to it.
F1 fans have noted this exchange between the two, and many of them do not seem to have gotten over it. Some of them, such as Sanaa, posted how they were ‘crying’ after seeing the ‘Lestappen’ (Leclerc and Verstappen) moment.
screaming, crying in lestappen moments
— sanaa 🙂 (@f1cl16fan) April 28, 2023
Meanwhile, some such as Jisell stated how Verstappen and Leclerc have gone on from being ‘enemies to lovers‘.
they really went from enemies to lovers
— jisell🎬🏎 (@spideyrockss) April 28, 2023
And then some, such as Haya seemed to suggest how Leclerc is perhaps only one of the few drivers that Verstappen was genuinely happy for that got pole instead of him.
bro wouldn’t even be happy if his own teammate got pole. he’s so into charles
— haya (@swaggiebadd1e) April 28, 2023
Max Verstappen hails Charles Leclerc for qualifying on pole
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc surprised F1 fans worldwide on Friday by becoming the first non-Red Bull driver this year to qualify for the pole position. Out of the previous three races, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified on pole twice and his teammate Sergio Perez once.
While Leclerc expressed astonishment by this sort of performance, Verstappen did not feel any surprise. In fact, the Dutchman praised the Monegasque for having the capability to outperform the car’s capabilities on a track as difficult as Baku.
“We know he’s really good around here. Otherwise, you don’t get three poles,” explained Verstappen (as quoted by total-motorsport.com). The Dutchman’s praises for the Ferrari driver did not end there, as he went on to state how Leclerc had previously managed to put the car on pole in Baku despite his team not having the strongest car on the grid.
Verstappen and Leclerc have contrasting starts to the 2023 season
Two extremely talented F1 drivers such as Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, perhaps could not have had more contrasting starts to a season than this one. On the one hand, championship leader Verstappen is in the form of his life as he has already scored a maximum of 69 points out of 78 this year.
And on the other hand, there is Leclerc, who has just scored six points so far. The Monegasque has had a torrid start to the year, as his only points-scoring finish this year has been a sixth-place finish in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, in both other races, he suffered from a DNF. Consequently of these poor results, he finds himself in tenth place in the championship. Considering how difficult his start of the season has been, he will now hope to be in his first pole position.
